Ocean Choice International is a member of the Penney Group and it was formed in 2000 as a parent company for
a number of operating companies already existing in the Newfoundland fishery. It may have its headquarters in Newfoundland,
but its presence is felt strongly throughout Atlantic Canada, especially in Prince Edward Island with Ocean Choice PEI. This
is where the problem starts for us.
Ocean Choice PEI is run by President Blaine Sullivan along with his staff of Dana Drummond, Craig MacDonald, and Robert
Power. In the past several fishery processors were amalgamated together against the fishermen's wishes. This in turn decreased
the competition and gave Ocean Choice a monopoly on the island lobster. The problem of price fixing has been a problem in
several industries before but it has never been as a serious of an issue as it was during the Spring Lobster fishery of 2007.
All winter and spring news reports brought in high prices in the Southwest Nova Lobster Fishery and in the Maine Fishery.
This was caused by the lack of supply and the high demand, especially from Europe. With these high reports Prince Edward Island
fishermen looked forward to higher prices. Suddenly two days before setting day on Prince Edward Island a newspaper article
in The Guardian stated that the price would not be high and may even be lower then it was during the 2006 season.
